Monday, December 11, 2006

Golden Turd of 1986

This was an easy decision because of how huge a disappointment this album was. Of course this award goes to............

Judas Priest-TurboLet's look at Priest's career prior to this. Other than a mediocre debut in Rocka Rolla the rest of their albums in the 1970's were either very good or great. Okay so let's look at the 1980's. One thing that came to my mind was that I was thinking of how many great albums hard rock and metal bands had between 1980 and 1985. Iron Maiden had four and then Judas Priest clock in with three as I think British Steel, Screaming for vengeance and Defenders of the faith are all great. To me Point of entry was just good. So Priest had three great albums between 80 and 85 and I don't think anyone other than them and Maiden had more than two truly great albums at that point. So if right before Turbo's release you said Priest were the second best metal band in the 80's so far behind Iron Maiden then I would have agreed. They were not just a quality band though because they were certainly popular and selling albums. So why then in early 1986 did what was one of the best true metal bands going release this limp release full of synths? It's an album lacking almost any traces of the band that had spend more than ten years establishing themselves as a quality metal act. Twenty years later and I still can't figure it out. It wasn't the direction that the previous albums were heading in. It wasn't a huge trend going on. So why was it so bad? I would have understood the direction of the album more if the previous effort had sold poorly, but it didn't. Unfortunately this album did sell well and the tour did well. Instead people have should threw this album back at the band and said "We don't want your Turbo lover and your Out in the cold, we want the real Priest back!" Don't even get me started on those ridiculous outfits, the hairstyles and the videos. What a nightmare this album was. The band did return with Ram it down in 1988 which was good and Painkiller in 1990 which was great. Yet think about what might have been if they had followed up Defenders in 1986 with an album that was actually a worthy follow-up.

***Tuesday I will have the last day of 1986 awards with the best and worst album covers.

19 Comments:

You're absolutely right, Mark. I don't know what they were thinking - too much Miami Vice, maybe? It's funny... you hated "turbo lover" for the same reasons I hated "jump" from VH. But I must admit, I did like "Locked In" off of that one. But yes, it wasn't their finest moment for sure.

This albums was such a disappointment. I really wanted to like it, but just couldn't get into it completely. I had a friend who would blast this album over and over...I felt like it was some sort of war time torture.

I probably would have went with Raven since I was a bigger Raven fan back then. Still, Turbo is pretty rank. Actually, I don't really care for any of priest albums after Defenders of the Faith. The reunion album was bland and now they are working on a concept of Nostradamus?

Kind of brings to mind when Spinal Tap are talking about writing a rock opera about Jack the Ripper. "Saucy Jack!"

Fred-I am a little worried about Priest with that new album. For Rob Halford the last album was the only weak thing he had done in some time. However for Tipton, Downing and Hill, they have not been involved in something good in a long time.

"So, in closing, fuck you METAL MARK. Fuck you, fuck Lynch Mob, and fuck your shitty website!”
“I don't know who this METAL MARK is, but I know better than to waste my time checking out anything else written by this asshole”
-Mike